Lehigh Valley Music readers have spoken, and their choice as this year’s “American Idol” is … coming after this word from our sponsor.

Just kidding. You’ll get sick enough of hearing that tonight on the “American Idol” finale.

But if our readers are right, the last time you hear that phrase this year, it will end with “Lee DeWyze,” but only by a hair.

Among the 11 non-duplicated you who expressed an opinion to Lehigh Valley Music, it was a tie -- five chose DeWyze, five chose Crystal Bowersox and one expressed no clear choice.

But responses to a companion blog item in which I predicted DeWyze will win all went for DeWyze except one who expressed no clear opinion.

That kind of split should surprise no one who has followed how close this season’s race has seemingly become.

A surprising number of people who responded said both “Idol” finalists are talented and expected both to have successful careers. Others favored one candidate but said they believed the other would win (most who said that were Crystal fans saying DeWyze would unfairly get the female vote).

Even commentators are saying the same thing. Former contestant and dance music success Blake Lewis wrote in USA Today that he thinks DeWyze will win, but that Bowersox outperformed him Tuesday.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.